Coal-cutting knife



1,572,430 w? HANNA .COAL CUTTING KNIFE Filed Sept. '8, 1924 4 2 SheetsSheet 1 gvwml op MLLIAM T Mm/m,

Feb. 9 1926. 1,572,430

w. 'r. HANNA,

COAL CUTTING KNIFE Filed Sept. 8, 1924 2 Sheetjs-Sheet 2 l5 2 12 I5 f K gwwnto-z 7 WILLIAM T HAN/W4,

UNITED STATES Patented Feb. 9, 1926.

WILLIAM T. HANNA, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

1 u COAL-CUTTING KNIFE.

Application filed September 8, 1924. Serial No. 736,519.

To all whom it nmy concern:

' Be it known that 1, WILLIAM T. I-TANNA, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in a Coal-Cutting Knife, of which the following is a specification.

An object of my invention is to provide a coal cutting knife for use with automatic stokers and the like which will operate positively and efliciently in reducing fuel to a size adapted tosuch stoking mechanism.

Another object .is. to provide a device of this kind which will cut and crush all fuel as it is fed thereto by the screw conveyors of a stoking mechanism.

Another object is to provide a device of this kind which will prevent the churning of fuel adjacent the mouth of the conveyor tubes of stoking mechanisms and thereby enhance the efficiency of such devices.

These and other objects are attained by the means described herein and disclosed'in the accompanying drawings, imwhich:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a locomotive stoker and fuel conveyor having embodied therein a device of my invention.

Fig. 2 a frag-mental cross sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view on line 8-3 of Fig. 2 taken in the direction of the single. headed arrows.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on Zl--3 of Fig. 2 taken in the direction of the double headed arrows.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the device, looking to the left on Fig. 2.

In automatic stoking mechanisms of the type embodying screw conveyors it has been necessary to provide coal cutting or crushing devices in order to reduce. the pieces of fuel to a size which could be handled by the conveyor tubes of such mechanisms. Prior to the development of coal cutting devices it had been necessary to prepare and screen fuel for such mechanisms.

The coal cutting and crushing devices have heretofore been found objectionable in that the crushers did not operate efliciently upon all of the coal, especially the larger lumps, and as a result a portion of the fuel was merely churned by the conveyors adjacent such crnshers and the mouth of the conveyor tube resulting in a variable sup- .ply of coal through the conveyors and in a loss of power.

The hopper knife of my invention is adapted primarily to bemounted within a locomotive stoker mechanism and disposed within a locomotive tender, although it may readily be adapted to use in other stoking mechanisms. l The hopper knife indicated generally as 6 inthe drawings and herein is preferably made of a body comprising a steel casting, suitably cored to avoid excessive weight and is provided with a rounded opening 7 for alignment with the tubular conveyor 8 within which a screw conveyor 9 is revolubly mounted. The rear face 10 of the body 6 is provided with a plurality of outwardly extending lugs adapted to seat in registering slots in the face of the flange 12 on the end of the conveyor 8 for positioning the device in relation to such conveyor and suitable cap screws 18 are employed for securing; the device in position. Extending forwardly above the opening 7 and the convcyor screw 9 is a projection having its foremost portion 14 developed into as sharp knife point 15 from which extends a short upwardly extending edge 16 and a substantially helical and downwardly extending cutting edge 17. tends from the point 15 to a point 18 adjacentthe outer edge of the tips orvanes 26 of the conveyor screw 9, and is positioned ecccntrically of said screw conveyor. The point'18 takes a position below the horizontal center line of the conveyor screw S). A clearance face 1.0 is provided on the outside of the cutting edge 17 and a curved crushing face 20 extends inwardly and downwardly from the cutting edge 17 to the lower and rear edges of the opening 7.

This portion of the device is for the purpose of handling lumps of fuel which are considerably over size and which in other mechanisms of this kind would be forced away from the knife by the incoming supply of fuel as it was carried forward by the screw conveyor. In this structure 'even the excessively large lumps of fuel are impaled upon the point 15 as they are brought forward by the conveyor screw 9 and being cut and broken thereby are further out by the cutting edge 17 and are then crushed against the face 20 by the action of the screw 9 upon the fuel.

The cutting edge 17 ex.

Cir

with the rear end of the walls of the ways For lumps of coal of a smallersize but which also require cutting or breaking before they will pass into the conveyor 8 there is provided a second cutting edge 21 with its lower end 22 developed into a sharp point adjacent the outward end of the vane 26 of the screw .9. posed opposite the edge 17 and extends from the forward cutting point helicallyupwardly and rearwardly to the top of the way 7. The cutting-edge 21 is disposed substantially concentric with the conveyor screw 9. In operationthe device is mounted upon the flanged end of the conveyor tube l substantially concentric and in axial align- 'inent with the tube 8. The conveyor screw 9 extends through the tube 8, way 7 and into a fuel trou h 23 which in the resent disa 7 l closure is disposed within its top edges 2% flush with the floor of a locomotive tender (not shown). Any suitable driving means such as the engine 25 may be employed to actuate the conveyor screw 9 and the ribs or face 26, push the coal in the trough 23 forward through the way '7 and tube 8 into the stoker mechanism 27. The slack and small pieces of coal pass very readily in thisway to the stoker. Larger pieces of coal are carried forward by the vanes 26 to the hopper knife structure 6,"where they are either broken upon the point 22 and pass directly through the way 7 or such portions which are still too-large are further out and reduced by being fo-rced'against the cutting edge 21 by the screw 9.

Extremely large lumps of coal will be harried forward and be impaled upon the point by the force of the screw 9 and be splitor broken. The finer particles will imn'iediately drop between the vanes 26 and be conveyed into the stoker while the larger fragments will eitherbe crushed against the face on the one side or will drop down where they willengage the point 22 and cutting edge '21 whereupon they will be further reduced in a manner previously de scribed.

From the foregoing it will be apparentthat there will. be provided a device that This cutting edgei-l is diswardly projecting helical cutting edge on the body disposed eccentrically of the conveyor screw on one side of and above the way, and terminating in a cutting edge point disposed above and spaced at a distance from the conveyor screw, and a second helical cutting edge on the body on the opposite side of the way disposed substantially concentric with .the screw and terminating in a second cutting point disposed below the horizontal centerline of the screw.

2. As a new artiolebf manufacture a tender hopper knife comprising a body portion'having a way therethrough, a curved cutting edge disposed on one'side-of the way and concentric therewith, a second curved cutting edgeon the other side of the way, and eccentrically disposed in relation thereto, a cutting point at the forward end of the first mentioned edge disposed adjacent the edge of the way, and a second'cutting .point at the end of the second mentioned cutting edge disposed above and spaced'at a distance from the top or the way.

.3. As a new article of manufacture a tender hopper knife comprisingia body portion having a way therethrough, a'curved cutting edge disposed on one side of the way and concentric therewith, a second curved cutting edge onthe other side of the way and eccentrically disposed in relation thereto, a cutting point at the forward end of the first mentioned edge disposed adjacent the edgeof the way, a second cutting point at the end of the second mentioned cutting edgedisposed above and spaced at a dis tance from the top of the way, anda curved crushing face disposed substantially within the way andex'tending from the second mentioned cutting edge to the rear end of said'way.

4. In a device of the'class described the combination with a body portion having a rounded way therethrough, ofa helical cutting edge at one side of the way and disposed. eccentrically thereto. and a second concentrically disposed cutting edge along the other side of the way. 7

o 5. In a device ofthe class described the combinationv witha body portion having a rounded way there-tln'ough, of a helical cutting edge at one side of the way and disposed eccentrically thereto, asecond concentrically disposed cutting edge along the other side of the way, and a curved crushingf'ace within'the way substantially co exten sive with the firstmentioned cutting edge at its torward edges.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 29th 1 day of August, 1924.

' WILLIAM T. HANNA. 

